Garam Masala Tuesdays: Chicken Tikka Salad and a Giveaway

by


chicken tikka salad The Novice Housewife

The idea of a chicken tikka salad has been playing in my mind for a long time (while writing this post I googled it, and apparently there are other versions as well, so I am not the only one to have thought of it) and finally I got around to making it a few days before.

There are not many salad recipes in Indian cuisine. The only one I can think of is Kachumbar– which is basically a salad made from small tiny pieces of vegetables, mainly cucumber, tomatoes, onions with chillies and cilantro/coriander leaves added to it. Besides that I draw a blank although salads do feature in indian meals- its just plain cucumbers, tomatoes and onions sliced and served on a plate with maybe a lemon, salt and pepper dressing. But other than that I can’t think of any. (If you can, please do leave a comment below)

Unlike other Indian salads, like the ones I mentioned above, which are normally served alongside main course dishes, to provide a slight crunch to the meal, this chicken tikka salad is a meal in itself. But much lighter than a full fledged Indian meal. And great for the times when you want a lighter Indian flavor meal.

Read More →

GMT: Khandvi and a Video Tutorial

by

khandvi-1

Khandvi is a delicious gluten free snack, traditional to the western state of Gujarat. Made from cooking a mixture of gram/chickpea flour and sour yogurt, to which a mustard seed and curry leaves tempering is applied, Khandvi is a healthy snack idea to think about the next time you feel like snacking between meals.

It doesn’t take too much time to make khandvis, but there is a slight learning curve to it. Its fairly easy to make once you get the technique right. And since there is a slight technique to it I thought why not make a video tutorial for making Khandvis.

This is the first time I tried making a video, so it took more time than expected. Was not easy to shoot and cook at the same time, but somehow managed. And I thought that would be the tough part. But downloading, editing and trying to figure everything out just took more time than expected and hence the reason for such a delayed recipe. Promise this time it wasn’t my laziness! 🙂

I had Khandvis for the first time when my cousin’s husband was posted to Manesar, an Industrial town close to New Delhi. On the way to her place was a popular Indian fast food chain, Haldirams, that we would often stop by to grab something to eat. I would end up having just the Khandvis and be happy. From there my love for Khandvis was born.

This time when I went to India, the same person who gave my mom the Cilantro cake recipe (another gluten free snack), gave this recipe as well. And today I am sharing it with you along with the first ever video tutorial on the blog.

Read More →

Garam Masala Tuesdays: Bhindi Raita

by

bhindi raita-2

….or put in english- Roasted Okra in Yogurt.

I have posted this recipe long, long back. It was one of the initial few recipes that were put on the blog, when only my close friends knew about the blog. So why am I posting it again. Because I have changed it slightly. Also, things written in that post have also changed. Slightly.

I had started this blog to not only document recipes that I tried but also have a place to jot down snippets from my life, so that one day I can go through a particular blog post and know that on that particular day while preparing macarons I screwed up and ended up with this. Or how people on facebook congratulated me for being pregnant when I clearly was not and as a result made this.

It was also a place to document V and my life together. So when I went back to the old recipe’s post it was amusing to see how some things have changed.

Read More →